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Meet Sarah

Sarah is a public servant, nonprofit leader, and committed activist for better healthcare and housing. She’s running to transform New York City into a place where everyone can feel safe and cared for.

New York City Council Candidate Sarah Batchu stands confidently in front of a fence on Stuyvesant Street, wearing a green blazer.Sarah was born into a family with a lifelong dedication to the betterment and wellbeing of her community. The daughter of two physicians, she was raised to understand the importance and powerful impact of caring for others. From an early age, she believed that service was not just a value but a way of life.

As a student at Barnard College, Sarah’s commitment to service deepened even further as she responded to the movement around campus sexual assault. As a survivor, Sarah intimately understood the toll that a lack of safety could take on the mind and body. With the guidance of fellow survivors and community activists across the city, she transformed her own pain into an ongoing commitment to building a safer city for all—and has had a results-driven career in public service ever since.

From the earliest days of her career in New York City government at City Hall, Sarah began tackling the big issues head-on—like addressing the city’s crumbling public housing infrastructure and planning an effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In just a few short years, Sarah’s dedication and tenacity yielded remarkable, proven results for thousands of New Yorkers:

New York City Council Candidate Sarah Batchu engages in conversation with a father and daughter at a pumpkin patch on 3rd Street.

  • Sarah successfully advocated for reforms to increase access to safe and affordable housing for formerly justice-involved New Yorkers.
  • Sarah designed, launched, and managed Get Help NYC, a groundbreaking online platform that became the city’s primary resource hub during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Sarah worked directly with public housing residents to enshrine their rights into law and to give them a voice in the renovation of their homes.
  • Sarah raised $7.2 million in rental assistance for tenants facing COVID-19-related financial hardship, ensuring housing stability for undocumented New Yorkers and gig workers left out of State and Federal programs.

New York City Council Candidate Sarah Batchu stands in a blue dress surrounded by women in blue "Center for Wellbeing & Happiness" t-shirts with their arms wrapped around her. A woman in a pink "Center for Wellbeing & Happiness" tank top crouches in front of the group.

Following her successful time at City Hall, Sarah leveraged her government experience and her Masters education in Public Health to spearhead and launch the Center for Wellbeing & Happiness, an intergenerational community space dedicated to transforming self-care into community care. Within two years, Sarah and her neighbors brought this vision to life, creating a thriving space with over 1,000 members on the Lower East Side.

Sarah’s personal and professional experience continues to reinforce her mission to lead in the creation of healing spaces and supportive communities. And, above all, Sarah remains firmly rooted in her belief that all New Yorkers deserve to feel safe in their communities and in the best city in the world.